


Rivamika TV/Movie Character Prompt Challenge

by alienheartattack (Sanneke)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, character prompts challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-23 00:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2527265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanneke/pseuds/alienheartattack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of drabbles inspired by characters from TV and movies. These range in rating from G to T/M.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Eddard Stark

**Eddard Stark: Knights and castles, lords/ladies and bannermen**

Levi has always considered his friendship with the Lady Mikasa to be somewhat inappropriate, given that she is the King’s daughter and he is an orphan who chops onions and peels potatoes in the royal kitchen. But he is obligated to obey her every whim, even when it contravenes with the orders of his superiors, and so he spends his time away from the sweltering heat of the ovens and the sharp tongue of the cook, walking with the princess in the gardens, riding with her in the King’s fields.

He is almost able to put the huge disparity in their positions to the back of the mind until the Lady Mikasa is fifteen years old and she orders him to kiss her.

"Absolutely not," he says, stopping their leisurely stroll around the castle’s parapets and folding his arms. "You’re too young."

"I am fifteen," Mikasa insists. "And I want to know what it’s like to kiss a boy. Some of my maids are the same age as me, and they have done more than that. They tell me about it sometimes."

"What?!" Levi sputters.

Mikasa lifts one shoulder in a sheepish shrug. “Well, I did have to bribe them,” she admits.

"You’re certainly as conniving as an adult," he mutters. "You’ll be married off within the next few years. You can learn then." He has been dreading that day for a long time, the day she will have to stop seeking him out in the kitchen, the day her husband and matters of state will occupy her time instead of climbing trees and stealing pastries. Although being the princess’ friend tires him out even on the best days, the Lady Mikasa is the only person in the world who doesn’t address him as "You" or "Boy." And, he figures, once she is Queen he will have her favor.

"Levi,  _please_ ,” she pleads.

"No. Your father will have me beheaded for destroying the virtue of a princess of the realm."

"What if I tell him I ordered you to do it?" She looks at him with narrowed eyes and crosses her arms. This is her trump card, her last resort. She usually allows him at least a modicum of free will, but if she so commands it, he must do what she says. And now she has commanded him to kiss her.

He looks down at his worn shoes. “You can’t tell anyone. Not ever.”

"I promise. Cross my heart." She draws an X over her chest with one finger.

He steps forward, frowning, then quickly presses his closed lips to hers and pulls away, looking everywhere except into her dark eyes. “There. You’ve been kissed.” He resumes their walk, striding away from her. Mikasa follows, arguing that that wasn’t a real kiss, that he needs to do it again, the right way this time.

Levi falls silent, refusing to acknowledge her complaints, occasionally shushing her when her chattering gets too loud. As he walks, he feels his stomach twisting and churning with fear and anxiety and something darker that he can name but chooses not to.

After all, that would require him to admit that he is utterly, totally, and irrevocably in love with the Lady Mikasa.


	2. Ben Stone

**Ben Stone: unexpected baby/accidentally pregnant**

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." Mikasa clutches a pregnancy test in one hand, staring at the blue letters in the indicator window as she paces back and forth across the carpeted floor of the apartment she shares with her boyfriend. Levi will say she is wearing out the carpet, but he is not the one who has had to bear the brunt of this news alone. Mikasa made it a point to buy a test whose results she could not misconstrue, a decision she now regrets.

There’s no room for interpretation of the blue letters, stark against the white plastic of the testing stick, that spell PREGNANT.

"What are you doing?" Levi asks, walking into the apartment, placing his keys on the rack that hangs by the door. "What’s that in your hand?" Mikasa freezes and stares at him, a deer trapped in headlights. She opens her mouth, but it is dry and her voice has fled. "Is that a pregnancy test?"

"Yes," she croaks.

Levi looks down at her stomach, which is as flat as he remembers it. He tries to imagine it rounded, swollen with a child —  _his_  child. “Fuck. I knocked you up?”

She wants to correct him, wants to tell him that this situation is so much more delicate than the phrase ‘knocked up’ implies, that beneath the stratified layers of sheer terror she’s currently experiencing, she wonders whether the baby will have his blue eyes or her brown-black ones. “Yeah,” she replies, sighing. “You knocked me up, Levi.”

She expects him to get angry, to be scared, to tell her they’re too young, to rage about how he told her she had to take her birth control at  _exactly_  the same time each day. Instead he closes the distance between them, wraps his arms around her, and covers her face in kisses.


	3. Gaylord Focker

**Gaylord Focker: meeting parents**

Just outside of Shiganshina, Mikasa goes missing. Levi splits up the squad and they search outward from their camp in all directions, calling her name through the trees: one sharp syllable, two long cries: _Mi-kaaaa-saaaaa_. Normally he would say to forget it, but she is too valuable an asset to let her just go. 

Levi finds her eight hours later, kneeling on the ground in a copse of tall pine trees. ”You’re in the shit now, Mikasa,” he growls at her when he finds her. He is weary from searching, his throat hoarse from calling her name.

"I know," she says, not turning around to acknowledge his presence. "But I had to see them. I’m sorry."

He approaches her tentatively, feeling as though he has stumbled upon a private moment. His slight embarrassment gives way to annoyance: she is a soldier,  _his_  soldier, and she does not have the right to vanish and make him waste half a day trying to find her.

His anger subsides as soon as he stands next to her and looks down to where her gaze is fixed: two white stones, polished by wind and rain, with “ACKERMAN” sloppily engraved on each. Levi suppresses a sharp intake of breath. He decides he will still punish her for this, but not as harshly as he had initially decided.

"We need to go back. Everyone is looking for you," he says, his voice softer than usual.

She looks up at him, her eyes filled with tears. ”Ten more minutes. Please.” Levi presses his lips into a firm line and nods, then retreats to the edge of the grove, leaning against the trunk of a tree. After the allotted time, he sees her walking back toward him, her scarf coiled practically up to her eyes.

"I’m ready," she all but whispers, but the rasp in her voice makes it clear that she will never be ready.

"Good. And for that stunt, you’re on night watch for the next week," he grunts. "And latrine duty."

"I understand, Captain," she replies, her dark eyes downcast. "I deserve it. I won’t do it again."

He feels as though he should say something, but he has no words to give her, nothing with which to comfort her. So he squeezes her shoulder once and motions for her to follow him back to the campsite, trying to forget the brief moment where he saw Mikasa Ackerman as nothing more than a scared little girl.


	4. Ezra Fitz

**Ezra Fitz: Teacher/student tension**

Levi hates that Mikasa’s last name starts with an A, because that means she has to sit in the front row of his class, directly in front of his desk. One day a few months into the school year, he tells his AP biology class that they should be free to choose their own seats. They’re seniors, he tells them, and there are no assigned seats in college.

He wouldn’t have such a problem with Mikasa sitting in the front row of his class if she didn’t wear such short skirts all the damn time. He has caught himself staring at her, his eyes tracing up the inside of her thigh, as her pen scratches against her notebook. Once, she looked up to find his eyes on her. Without breaking her gaze from his notes on the board, she reached down to scratch an itch on her leg, hitching up her skirt that much more.

When she was done, she flashed him a sly smile that belied her eighteen years. That smile haunts him: it is the smile of a woman who is used to getting what she wants.

"You’re staying put?" he asks her as the other students shuffle around the room. Mikasa simply sits there, pulling a fresh pen from her backpack and placing it behind her ear.

"You’re assuming I don’t like my seat," she replies, looking up at him through thick, dark eyelashes. "I wouldn’t pay as much attention to you if I was sitting in the back. And I have to pay attention if I want to pass, right?"


	5. Hannah Montana

**Hannah Montana - at least one of the pairing is a famous musician**

"You want me to play on one of  _his_  tracks?” Mikasa asks her manager. She refuses to say the pop star’s name. He has been blowing up the charts in her native Japan, and because of the popularity of his sentimental songs he has become ubiquitous: Mikasa feels as though she has seen him on the cover of every magazine and during every commercial break of every television show she watches, hawking cars and perfumes and snacks. His dead-eyed gaze seems to follow her wherever she goes. She hates him, hates his insipid music, hates the legions of women who have apparently fallen under his spell.

"Here’s what they’re going to pay you," Erwin says, scribbling down a figure on a piece of paper and passing it to her.

Her mouth drops open. “I’ll do it.”

A weeks later, Levi swaggers into the recording studio, wearing a leather jacket, jeans, and a white t-shirt with a deep v-neck that exposes a sliver of his defined pectoral muscles. Mikasa has been there for two hours already, ready to record her part of the piano ballad that will undoubtedly be his next smash hit, and he is late.

The only thing that comforts her is finding out that Levi is much, much shorter than she expected him to be.

"Sorry," he says, his monotone voice making it sound as though he is not sorry in the slightest. "Got caught up at my last appointment."

"This is Mikasa," the recording engineer tells him, gesturing toward her. "She’ll be playing on the track."

Levi looks over at the woman sitting at the piano, dressed simply in a sleeveless black dress, a crimson scarf tied around her neck. She is glaring at him. “Nice to meet you,” he says, approaching her and offering his hand. She takes it, preparing to shake, but then he leans down and presses his lips to her skin. “I really do apologize for my lateness.”

"Charming," she bites out, drawing her hand away. She can still feel the heat of his mouth against her skin, so she wipes the back of her hand on her dress when Levi has his back to her.

The recording engineer instructs them to run through the song once, just to iron out any kinks. Levi turns the microphone around so he is looking at Mikasa as he sings. “It helps to sing to someone. I find it makes the performance seem more real,” he explains.

"Sure it does," Mikasa says under her breath.

"What’s that?" he asks, his eyebrows raised.

"Nothing. Just clearing my throat."

Levi smirks at her in disbelief and nods, indicating for her to start playing. The song starts quietly, with Levi singing in a low voice to a lost love, gaining in intensity until Mikasa is hammering at the keys with her fingers and Levi is clenching his fists as he sings into the microphone.

They play the song again a few more times, per the recording engineer’s request, but it is merely a formality. They have captured  _something_  in their recording, a depth and purity of emotion, a yearning that can never be sated. The song leaves the listener wanting more, even when the engineer plays it several times in a row. Mikasa’s piano provides depth to Levi’s voice, which starts husky with passion, then builds until it is clear and bright and loud with pain. Even she has to admit that it’s a great song.

Levi has to go soon after they finish playing, whisked away by his handlers to his next appearance. He looks back at her as he walks away, an inscrutable expression on his face. He looks as though he wants to tell her something, but does not know exactly what to say. She feels something similarly unknowable, a burning in the pit of her stomach, as she watches him leave. She chalks it up to the fact that Levi is a celebrity, an image, and not a real person. If there is something there, it is because he has learned how to manipulate the emotions of others. If she is attracted to him, it is his facade that she wants. 

That is what she tells herself when she thinks about him that night, her hand drifting between her legs as she imagines what his lips would feel like against hers.


	6. Marty McFly

**Marty McFly: time travel**

No one believes six-year-old Mikasa when she says she saw a man walk out of her closet. Her parents run into her room, looking for an intruder, but find no one. They chalk it up to her overactive imagination and tell her to play outside more, insisting that she spend more time with the Yeager boy and his little friend. They choose to ignore the strange scent of smoke that wafts from her closet.

At fifteen, Mikasa knows better than to tell anyone the next time she sees him. She is in her bed, crying into her pillow over being dumped by the Yeager boy, when she smells that same smoke, not quite the burn of a campfire but something more acrid, more mechanical.

"I won’t tell anyone this time," Mikasa whimpers, her voice distorted with tears.

"Good," he says.

"I don’t know your name."

"It’s Levi."

"Do you know my name?"

"I do, Mikasa." He smiles as her name passes over her lips, seemingly involuntarily.

"Why are you here, Levi?"

Levi shrugs, nonchalant. “Because I haven’t gotten it right yet. But I’m working on it.”

She asks him, “Gotten what right?” but by the time the question has left her mouth, he is already gone.

The next time he steps out of her closet, she is sitting at a vanity table, twisting strands of her hair around a curling iron.

"I can’t stay long," she tells him. "I’m getting married today."

"I know," he replies, unable to look her in the eye. "I’m too late."

"For what?"

"For you."

She puts down the curling iron and stands up. “What?”

"I’ve already said too much. I won’t keep you." He turns to leave.

Mikasa rushes forward and “No, wait. You can’t just do this to me. I need an explanation.”

"This is the only explanation I can give," he says, leaning in and kissing her. His warm hands cup her face and he pours his heart and soul into the kiss, trying to commit the contours of her lips to memory for the few moments that their mouths are joined.

Mikasa steps back, her eyes wide, her fingertips hovering over her mouth. “That’s not the first time we’ve kissed,” she says.

"No," Levi admits. "It’s not."

"But I’ve never kissed you before."

His lips curve into a bashful smile. “Well, yes and no.”

"I can’t… I… I’m getting married," she stammers.

Levi steps forward and kisses her cheek. “Please don’t remind me,” he murmurs against her skin. She is soft under his lips, just as he remembers her. It makes him want to weep and rage with frustration, that he is so close this time, much closer than his previous attempts, but he has failed yet again.

Mikasa hugs him, holding him close. “I wish you would tell me more.”

Levi steps away from her and walks back toward the closet. He frowns, then says, “I can’t. It would ruin the surprise.”

"I’ll leave him if that’s what you want," she blurts, advancing toward him. "Just please stay and tell me why you’re here. Please."

Levi shakes his head sadly. “No. Not like this.” Mikasa sniffles and wipes away a tear. “Don’t cry, Mikasa,” he says, stepping forward and tracing the line of her cheek with one finger. “I’ll keep looking until I find you again. I promise.”


	7. Jax Teller

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: violence, implied character death

**Jax Teller: one or both are in a biker gang**

"You are so fucked, Kenny," Levi spits, twirling a wooden baseball bat in one hand. "You are so, so, _sooooo_  fucked. You think this is bad?” He lifts the bat, stained red with Kenny’s blood, in front of the man’s face. “Wait until my girl gets a hold of you. You have tried to fuck me over for the last time. It ends today.”

As if on cue, the door to the warehouse slides open and a slender, dark-haired woman saunters in, wearing the typical uniform of dark jeans, a white shirt, and a leather vest embroidered with the gang’s wing and shield insignia. The heavy soles of her steel-toed boots reverberate against the concrete floor.

"Is this the guy, Levi?" she asks, her voice a quiet, deadly monotone.

"Yup. He’s all yours, babe," Levi replies, looping one arm around her waist and pressing a sloppy kiss to her mouth. "Kenny, meet Mikasa. You’re probably not going to like her very much, but I assure you that you’ll be in very good hands." He kisses Mikasa again. " _Very_  good hands,” he purrs against her mouth.

Kenny looks at the girl, noting her slim build, her dark hair, the way she and Levi both look at him with cold eyes. He cackles wildly as Mikasa’s boot smashes against his jaw, dislodging several teeth. He spits a spray of blood onto the floor, loose teeth skittering across the concrete, strings of bloody saliva hanging from his split lips.

Levi furrows his brow and glares at Kenny. “You sure are laughing a lot for a guy with a broken jaw.”

"She’s your fucking sister, Levi," the older man guffaws over the gurgle of blood in his mouth.

Levi’s eyes widen and he looks from Kenny’s face to the slight swell of Mikasa’s stomach, which he hopes is noticeable only to him. They haven’t told anyone yet.

"What?" he shouts. Kenny replies with peals of shrill laughter. Levi unconsciously drops his bat; it clatters loudly in the empty warehouse as wood makes contact with the concrete floor.

"Are you really letting him get to you?" Mikasa asks him in a low voice, making sure Kenny doesn’t hear her.

"We do have the same last name," he replies in a loud whisper. "And people are always telling us we look similar."

"A lot of fucking people have the same last name," she hisses. "I’ll solve this." She pulls a switchblade from the back pocket of her jeans and approaches Kenny. "Is Levi my brother?" she asks him, flicking the point of the blade open.

"Of course he fucking is. Look at you two," Kenny sneers. "Same black hair, same creepy sociopath vibe."

Mikasa grits her teeth and jams the blade against his cheekbone. A rivulet of blood runs down his face. She feels metal scraping against bone as she slices deeper into Kenny’s face. “I don’t believe you,” she says, “so I’ll ask you again. Are we related?”

"Listen, you dumb bitch—" Kenny’s words are cut off by a strangled scream as Mikasa drags the knife down the side of his face, splitting his flesh down to the bone from cheek to chin.

"All right, you piece of shit. I’m sick of playing. I’m going to ask you one last time." She pulls the blade from his face and wipes it off on Kenny’s shirt, just the way Levi likes, then grips the handle of the switchblade in one clenched fist and points it downward.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kenny asks.

"Getting information." She aims the point of the blade at Kenny’s crotch, the sharp tip resting against the slight bulge in his jeans. "Am I fucking related to Levi or not? Choose your answer wisely," she says, adding enough pressure on the knife that Kenny can feel exactly what Mikasa intends to do to him. He hesitates, cold sweat pouring down his face, mingling with the blood that flows freely from his ruined cheek. "I’m waiting," she growls, pressing the tip of the knife a little harder.

"Okay! Okay! You’re not related!" Kenny yelps.

"Are you lying to me?" Mikasa screams, digging the point of the blade into Kenny’s flesh. A small crimson stain appears on the older man’s jeans.

"No! No! I just said that to fuck with you!" His voice is desperate, almost on the verge of breaking.

Mikasa picks up the knife and slides the retractable blade back into its handle. “Men are so fucking simple,” she remarks. “That’s all you needed to do, Levi.” Levi lets out a deep breath that he did not realize he was holding. “I’m done with him. You can kill him yourself.”

Later, in bed, Levi lays his head on Mikasa’s chest and rubs her stomach, as he has done every night since she told him she was pregnant. “Have you been thinking about names?”

"Not really. We have five more months to pick something."

"I was thinking we could name him after me."

Mikasa rolls her eyes. This is not the first time he’s floated this idea to her. “How about we name him Kenny?” she asks. Levi looks up at her, his steely eyes stormy with anger. She starts to giggle, then laugh, her chest and belly quaking under his touch.

"Don’t even joke about that," Levi mutters.


	8. Zack and Miri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obviously, there's some adult content here.

**Zack and Miri: initially platonic friends filming porn for cash**

Mikasa shows up at Levi’s house on a Wednesday evening. She does this a lot, disappears for days on end and shows up at his doorstep like a lost dog returning home. When he opens the door, the first thing she asks him is, “Do you know how to get a lot of cash in a short amount of time?”

"Oh god. What did you do now?" he asks, inviting her in.

"Got drunk at the wrong bar. Bet on the wrong game. And one of the guys may have been in the Yakuza. Either that or he’s an Asian guy who’s just missing a finger. It gets kinda blurry after the drinks started flowing."

"Mikasa, I’m telling you this because you’re my friend and I love you," he says, walking into his kitchen and pulling a couple of beers from the refrigerator, "but you’re a fucking mess."

She accepts the beer, popping the cap with a bottle opener that she keeps on a keychain. “Yeah, I gotta drink less.” She looks at her beer. “Starting tomorrow.”

"So I can think of few options. You could play the lottery, but you’re not going to win. You could rob a bank, but you’d definitely get caught. Or you could fuck for money." Levi motions for her to toss him her keys, which she does. He catches them in one hand in a smooth, practiced motion and pops the cap from his beer, then throws her keys back to her.

"Fuck a random guy for money?" she asks, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Levi shrugs. “You’re young, you’re pretty. You could probably raise the funds in a few days. But if you end up going that route, I feel like I should get a cut for coming up with the idea.”

"You are not pimping me out, Levi!" Mikasa squeals, playfully slapping him on the shoulder.

He takes a long swig of his beer before he says, “There’s always porn. You can put it online and probably make a fair amount of cash.”

She seems to consider it for a moment, furrowing her brow and pouting. “I don’t have a camera. Or anyone to fuck.”

"You can go fuck yourself," Levi offers, chuckling.

"Fuck you,” she replies jovially, hopping up on his kitchen counter and sitting there, swinging her legs idly.

"Can you please get your ass off my counter?" he asks, annoyed, even though she does this all the time.

"No." She takes a long swig of beer, then exhales forcefully, puffing out her cheeks. "I need a couple thousand. Touching myself on cam isn’t going to make enough money."

"That’s probably true."

"So that’s two more problems. This guy might actually break my legs. I’m so fucked," she wails.

Levi looks down at the ground. “I have a camera, actually,” he says in a hushed voice.

She looks at him with narrowed eyes. “Next you’re gonna tell me you’re going to fuck me on said camera.”

He shrugs. “I would do it if my head was out of shot. I don’t want people to know it’s me.”

"Yeah, because having sex with me would be super embarrassing. Your dignity is really at stake here,” she grouses, her words thick with sarcasm.

Levi sighs, blowing a stray strand of hair out of his face. “You know I’m talking about being in porn. Look, Mikasa, all I’m saying is that I’m willing to help you, if you’ll accept it. Plus it would be embarrassing if people knew I slept with such a goddamned trainwreck.” He grins at her.

"You should be glad I’m not a violent drunk," she says. She finishes her beer and pretends to brandish the empty bottle as a weapon.

"You should’ve cracked that Yakuza guy in the head; then you wouldn’t be in this mess. Wait, why am I even entertaining this? The whole thing sounds ridiculous, even for you."

"Whatever. Are you in or not?"

Levi swallows thickly. “Yeah. I’m in.”

She stares at the floor for a few moments, then looks up at him, her eyes soft. “I don’t want this to make things weird between us,” she nearly whispers.

Levi purses his lips. “It won’t if we don’t let it,” he replies, but he finds that he cannot quite meet her eyes.

Mikasa sighs in resignation, then hops down from the counter. “All right. Let’s do it.”

She has only been in Levi’s bedroom two or three times before, usually when they have been drinking and she demands that they cuddle. (To his annoyance, she insists upon being the big spoon.) His immaculately clean room seems clinical now, knowing what she is about to do. Levi stands in the corner, setting up a camera and tripod, seemingly paying close attention to the machinery and not to his best friend, who is pulling off her clothes and tossing them in a corner, then sitting on his bed cross-legged in her underwear. He strips down to his boxers and sits next her, looking at her, unsure how to proceed. Before long she simply leaps onto him, knocking him onto his back, and kisses him hungrily in a way that he would never have expected.

When he feels himself kissing her back, biting at her lips, his hands already frantically working the clasp of her bra, Levi realizes that neither of them are acting. Suddenly he completely forgets that the camera is there and merely delights in the feel of her skin, the taste of her mouth, the curves and contours of her body.

Later, they lay side by side in his bed as Levi hooks the camera up to his laptop. It takes them four tries to watch the video all the way through; it’s only about forty minutes, but they keep getting distracted by the way Mikasa arches her back as she straddles him, the filthy things Levi says against her stomach as he kisses his way down her body. Finally, hours later, they are simply too tired to do anything but sit there and watch, holding each other.

"I think we might have a hit on our hands," she says when the movie ends, kissing him on the cheek. And she’s right. A week later, she is able to pay back the bookie – who, to her great embarrassment, is a surprisingly kindly Korean man who lost his finger in a farming accident when he was a boy. (She decides she will never tell Levi that he was right.) Before she decides to take the video down from the porn site, she has enough money to take Levi out to a nice dinner, where he holds her hand across the table and asks her if maybe they should consider being more than just friends.

"Yeah," she says. "I’m in."


	9. Magic Mike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you squint, you can turn this into a distant sequel to my Ren Faire AU fic, Lady Mikasa and Sir Levi.

**Magic Mike: a scene which takes place in a stripclub**

[ _For best results, listen to this awesomely terrible song while you read._ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69fPof-ZTnU)

"I cannot believe they convinced me to come here," Levi mutters to himself as a beefy bouncer peers down at him, glancing from his ID to his face and back again. "I remember when MTV used to play music videos," he says sharply. "I am definitely over 21." The bouncer glares at him and hands his card back, allowing him to join his friends in the dim entryway to the club.

"Let’s go look at some boobs and butts!" Hanji yells, throwing her arms in the air triumphantly.

"I get why she’s here. What’s your excuse?" Levi asks Erwin.

"I wanted to see how uncomfortable you’d get when you realize that strip clubs are filthy inside," the taller man says with a smirk.

Levi grits his teeth. “I hate you guys so much.”

"Shut up," Hanji snaps. "I paid for your cover, Erwin’s buying your drinks, and you’re going to look at tits until you stop being such a grump."

"My fucking girlfriend left me," he mutters. "I think I’m within my rights."

"And now you’re within your rights to look at naked women with your best friends," Erwin tells him, putting one hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let’s get some booze into you."

A group of rowdy college kids have gathered on the other side of the stage from where they sit. It is Armin’s twenty-first birthday, and his friends have decided that his chosen evening of beer and board games does not sufficiently celebrate his brand new drinking privileges.

It happened like this: after the third hour of Settlers of Catan, Sasha floated the idea of going to a strip club. Connie started chanting, “Strip club! Strip club! Strip club!” Sasha joined in, then Jean, then Eren. Armin grasped Mikasa’s hand under his kitchen table, hurting her a little with his tight grip, as he gritted his teeth and acquiesced.

Four shots and two lap dances later, with Connie promising that he will buy him a third, Armin is more than fine with this decision. Mikasa, on the other hand, is trying to determine at what point it will no longer be rude to simply go home. The music is too loud, the flashing lights give her a headache, and a flat watery beer costs twelve dollars. It is everything she hates about going out, condensed into one horrible place.

The music is turned down for a moment as the DJ’s voice is piped over the loudspeaker. “I just want to remind everyone here tonight that it’s amateur night. Any ladies in the house who want to show us what they can do on the pole?”

Sasha squeals and practically climbs over the booth in an attempt to get on the stage. Soon she is swinging herself around the metal pole, not really paying attention to the audience or anything besides the way the room wobbles as she spins around.

Something about her performance (or lack thereof) bothers Mikasa and she finds that she is unable to keep from commenting. “You’re doing it wrong,” she calls, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Then you do it better," Sasha answers, gyrating and scowling at her friend at the same time.

Mikasa snorts. “Hell no! That would require a lot of alcohol and I’m not spending sixty bucks on shots.”

"But you would do it if you got drunk?" Jean cuts in, his eyes wild.

"Yeah, I guess," Mikasa shrugs.

"Someone get this woman some drinks! I’m paying!" Jean slurs, standing up at the booth and slapping his hand against the table until three waitresses run over.

Within minutes she is up on stage with Sasha, who sweeps one arm toward the pole in a sarcastic gesture, then crosses her arms as Mikasa walks around it, shaking her hips to the tune of the song playing over the speakers - it is so loud the sound is distorted, and Mikasa cannot tell what she is listening to other than screeching guitars and driving bass. She hoists herself up, her muscles straining, then proceeds to flip herself upside down and lock one leg around the pole, slowly spinning around until she nears the ground. She pulls herself up again then, grinding her hips to give her some more momentum as she spins, both legs pointed up and out.

"TWERK!" Jean shouts from the booth. Mid-move, Mikasa holds onto the pole with one arm and extends the other out, flipping her middle finger at him.

Levi stares at the girl on the stage as she flips and spins, his eyes widening. Her moves aren’t as plainly sensual as the professionals on the side stages, but Levi finds himself starting to become aroused as he watches the bulging muscles in her arms, the sheen of sweat on her brow.

"I think I’m in love," Hanji says. "I’m gonna marry her."

"Not if I get to her first," Levi blurts.

Hanji turns her widest open-mouthed grin on him, the one she gives him when she knows she is right. Even Erwin looks giddy. Before they can gloat that Levi is actually having a good time, a red scarf flies through the air and lands on their table. He looks up to see the girl onstage, her cheeks scarlet even from a distance. One of her friends, a girl with a shaggy ponytail, passes her a shot of what looks to be vodka, which the girl downs, then starts to undo the row of buttons on her white shirt. Her fingers fumble; the effect is more akin to watching her simply get undressed than seeing a performance, but this just intrigues Levi more. Finally she finishes fiddling with her shirt, then twirls it over her head and tosses it to the guy she flipped off, who whoops with delight. She stands there in a plain black bra, then tries to figure out what to do next.

"I can’t take these boots off unless I’m sitting down," Mikasa says, gesturing to her tall black leather boots, into which her tight jeans are tucked. "So this is all I’m taking off." She shrugs, then hops back up on the pole and flips upside down, stretching her legs out into a full split. After she does a few more moves, she starts to realize that her friends will never let her live down the fact that she has taken off her shirt and pole-danced in a strip club, and decides to end her impromptu performance, running back to her friends, who clap and cheer.

"Go talk to her!" Hanji hisses. "You have her scarf!"

Levi shakes his head. “No. I’m not going to bother her when she’s with her friends. Plus she’s going to think I’m some random creep.”

"Does baby need a wingman?" Erwin asks.

"No," Levi sulks. "But I do need some liquid courage, if you’ll excuse me." He picks up the scarf and stuffs it in the pocket of his jacket, then heads over to the bar and orders a beer. When the bartender informs him how much it costs, his mouth drops open. "Twelve dollars?" he asks, incredulous.

"It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?" a voice says behind him. Levi turns around to see the girl from the stage standing behind him. "Rum and coke," she tells the bartender.

"It’s on the house for you," the bartender says. "Sick moves."

"Thanks," Mikasa replies, then turns to Levi. "Um, I think you have my scarf."

He feels quite stupid then, carrying her scarf next to his heart, but his face remains impassive. “Yeah, I figured I would hold on to it for you,” he bluffs, digging the scarf out of his pocket and handing it to her.

Mikasa accepts, then ties the scarf around her neck. “Thanks for keeping it warm,” she says with a half-smile, then takes a sip of her drink. They fall into an awkward silence, and Levi can see that the girl is looking to leave, glancing over at her friends as they stare back at her with widened eyes. (Except for one of them, a guy with light brown hair and a long face, who seems to be glaring at him.)

"Are your friends taking you out too?" he asks, then mentally cringes at how stupid he thinks he sounds.

"It’s my friend’s birthday, but I think they wouldn’t mind me getting into the whole strip club spirit," she replies. "I kinda hate it here."

"Me too. This place is disgusting." He scowls, then decides to act on the idea that has just formed in his head. "Look, do you want to get out of here? There’s a dive bar a couple of blocks away if you want to get a quiet drink. And I promise the only thing I’ll ask about your little performance is what your workout routine is like."

Mikasa laughs low in her throat. “Yeah, sure.” She pats down her pockets, feeling for her wallet, keys, and phone. “I have everything here if you just want to head out.”

"Sounds good," he says. They leave then, accompanied by the hoots and hollers of two sets of friends, audible even over the deafening music.


End file.
